A proposal for a new festival that planners hope will promote family friendly activities in downtown Ionia, as well as make the business district a tourist destination and increase visitors was presented to the Ionia City Council at its meeting Tuesday. Council approved the closure of areas of Main, Steele and Depot streets beginning at 6 p.m. June 18 through the morning of June 23 to allow for set up, the event itself and tear down.

Linda Curtis, Ionia Downtown Development Authority director, explained that plans include a carnival with up to 14 rides and six food concessions; an entertainment stage with children’s activities, workshops and evening entertainment; street vendors and displays; activities hosted by the Ionia County Historical Society; and participation by downtown businesses and the Ionia Theatre. Activities would take place from June 20 to 22.

The carnival would be operated by Schmidt Family Carnival Company, which Curtis said has done “a lot of small festivals, and everyone has been very happy with them.”

City Manager Jason Eppler pointed out that having more activities in the city’s downtown has long been a point of discussion by the DDA board, and that single-day events like the car show have had “a good turnout.”

Mayor Dan Balice said studies have all identified a need for additional events to bring people downtown.

“Other than the restaurants, you could shoot a cannon down Main Street on the weekend,” Balice said. “One of the reasons people don’t shop downtown is they don’t know what is downtown. This will get people walking up and down (to see what is available).”

Balice said he was concerned about whether there would be enough people to attend an event that lasts for three days, “but I applaud you for trying it,” he told Curtis.

Balice added that the city will continue to try to bring citizens and businesses to downtown Ionia.

“We’ve been able to maintain fairly well. It’s all about quality and service,” he said. “The things that cities can do, we’re trying to do.”

“This is a great opportunity to try something,” said Kim Patrick of the Second Ward. “If it goes over well, maybe we can make it an annual event.”

In other action, after no comments were received at a public hearing on proposed Ordinance No. 499, which revises Chapter 1042 of the city code, the city council approved the second reading and the adoption of the ordinance, to become effective Sunday.

Ordinance No. 499 contains rules and regulations governing the operation of sanitary sewer collection and treatment systems, and rewrites the previous ordinance to eliminate redundancies and revise certain provisions to reflect the role of the Ionia Regional Utilities Authority (IRUA).

Page 2 of 2 - Eppler told council members that other constituent municipalities of IRUA also will be asked to adopt the new ordinance, and they have “begun the process” for this to take place, he said.

The city council accepted a bid from CL Trucking for $956,128 for the Lafayette reconstruction project. Eppler told council members he recommended this bid, which was the second lowest, because the city “had good luck with CL Trucking last year,” the firm having completed all three of the city’s 2012 street projects, the bid was almost $110,000 below the engineer’s estimate, the bid was within 5 percent of the lowest bid, and he is not familiar with the low bidder, Schippers Excavating of West Olive.

The council also accepted the low bid from APEX Contractors, Inc. of Dorr for the Jackson Street park project. The bid was $431,900, however after several items were deducted from the project, the actual amount to be awarded will be $407,900.

Members of the council also approved the introduction and first reading of Ordinance No. 500 regarding non-conforming lots, structures and uses. The planning commission held a public hearing on the proposed ordinance on March 13. A public hearing on the ordinance, which would be an amendment to the zoning chapter of the city code, was scheduled for 7 p.m. May 7 in the council chamber of city hall.

The council scheduled a special meeting to review the proposed fiscal year 2013-14 city budget for 5:30 p.m. May 7, prior to its regular meeting.